Making a Scene Presents

Making a Scene Presents - Spotify’s Power Grab and the Web3 Escape Route: How Indie Artists Can Take Back Their Rights, Data, and Money Spotify’s new Terms of Service (August 2025) quietly tighten the leash around artists. The fine print is filled with loaded words like royalty-free, sublicensable, irrevocable, and transferable. At the same time, their Privacy Policy admits that your data—everythi...

Making a Scene Presents - How to Use AI to Book Your Band: From Finding Venues to Routing Tours Booking shows has always been one of the toughest parts of being an independent musician. You can write the songs, rehearse with your band, and record a great album, but without gigs, it’s hard to grow a fanbase. Traditionally, booking tours meant hours of emailing venues, chasing down contacts, and try...

Making a Scene Presents - How to Use AI to Book Your Band: From Finding Venues to Routing Tours Booking shows has always been one of the toughest parts of being an independent musician. You can write the songs, rehearse with your band, and record a great album, but without gigs, it’s hard to grow a fanbase. Traditionally, booking tours meant hours of emailing venues, chasing down contacts, and try...

Making a Scene Presents the PODCAST of LIVE from the Midnight Circus Featuring V & BT This is the Voice of Indie Blues, the future of the blues. Artists who embrace the diversity of the blues that always has and still is being create from it's roots. These artists understand the blues is a living art form that is driven by innovation and creativity. These are the Indie Blues Artists! Honoring the...

Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Joshua Espinoza Latino-American jazz pianist Joshua Espinoza is known for blending and bending genres into music that feels both familiar and refreshingly undefinable. With bassist Kris Monson and drummer Jaron Lamar Davis, the Joshua Espinoza Trio explores the space where jazz improvisation meets classical chamber music, pop sensibilities, and folk tradit...

Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey's Interview with Jessey Jackson Jessey Jackson is a rare gem in the Australian music scene—an artist whose energy and authenticity make her impossible to ignore. A self-taught singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, Jessey has been compared to iconic voices like Janis Joplin, Melissa Etheridge, Tracy Chapman, and Stevie Nicks. Her powerful, raw, and soulf...

Making a Scene - AI for Session Organization: Automating the Boring Stuff If you’ve ever opened up an old recording session only to be greeted by a sea of tracks called things like Audio_01 or Untitled_Track_47, you know how much of a headache it can be. You sit there soloing tracks one by one, trying to figure out whether something is a kick, a vocal, or just silence. It kills the mood and wastes...

Making a Scene Presents - Music DAOs: How Fans Can Become Stakeholders Imagine if your fan club wasn’t just a place to share posts and behind-the-scenes videos, but a real community where fans had an actual stake in your career. What if the people who love your music the most could vote on which cities you tour, help design your merch, or even co-fund your next album—while owning a piece of the pr...

Making a Scene Presents - Room Acoustics on a Budget: How to Tame Your Bedroom Studio So, you’ve got your mic, your interface, your laptop, and a dream. You’re ready to record your songs in your bedroom studio. But then you hit record and—ouch. The vocals sound boxy, the guitars are muddy, and the mix feels flat. It’s not your performance, and it’s not your gear. The problem is your room. http://w...

Making a Scene Presents An Interview with V & BT Vigdis & Blå Tråd are a Norwegian band weaving together the raw soul of Nordic folk traditions with the timeless spirit of blues and roots music. Fronted by the powerful voice and songwriting of Vigdis, the group’s name—Blå Tråd (“Blue Thread”)—captures their mission: to tie together different genres, eras, and emotions with one unbreakable line of...

Making a Scene - Signal Flow Made Simple: How Sound Travels from Your Mic to Your Mix So, you just bought your first microphone and audio interface. You’re excited, maybe even a little overwhelmed, and you’re ready to start recording songs in your home studio. But before you press record, there’s one important thing you need to understand: signal flow. http://www.makingascene.org

Making a Scene - NFTs for Musicians: Beyond the Hype You’ve heard the buzzword and seen the headlines. Here’s the simple version, no tech talk. An NFT is a digital receipt that proves who owns a special version of something. That “something” can be your single, your album, a music video, a backstage pass, a signed vinyl voucher, or a bundle with all of the above. The receipt lives on a public data...

Making a Scene - AI-Powered Vocal Cleanup: Faster, Cleaner, Smarter If you’ve ever tried recording your vocals at home, you know the struggle. You nail a great take, full of emotion and energy, but when you listen back you hear more than just your voice. The hum of the air conditioner creeps in, your neighbor’s dog barks halfway through, or maybe the hiss of your laptop fan makes the track sound m...

Making a Scene - How to Use AI to Create Social Media Posts That Actually Get Fans Talking Social media can feel like a full-time job when you’re an indie musician. Between rehearsals, recording, and life itself, finding the energy to write daily Instagram captions or TikTok scripts isn’t easy. But here’s the truth: your fans want to hear from you. They don’t just want polished songs—they want to...

Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Doc Bowling Doc Bowling & His Blues Professors are the real deal—a powerhouse blues band built on grit, soul, and musical scholarship. Led by Doc Bowling, a seasoned vocalist and guitarist with decades of performing under his belt, the band brings together a lineup of master musicians who deliver authentic blues with fire, finesse, and heart. http://www.ma...

Making a Scene - Ozone 12: How iZotope’s New Mastering Plugin Is Changing the Game Introduction If you’ve ever finished mixing a song and thought, “Why doesn’t this sound like the tracks on Spotify or the radio?”—you’re not alone. That final polish you’re missing is called mastering, and it’s the step that takes a track from good to professional. For years, mastering was expensive, mysterious, and...

Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey's Interview with Michael Allman Michael Allman, the eldest son of Southern rock legend Gregg Allman, has carved out his own place in the world of blues and rock with a voice and presence that carry forward his family’s iconic legacy. Based in Port Richey, Florida, Michael blends the raw soul of Southern rock with the grit of modern blues, creating a sound that i...

Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Lord Bolt Lord Bolt is a Swedish musician, drummer, singer, and songwriter who refuses to follow the rules. His sound cuts across blues, rockabilly, jazz, swing, country, and roots rock—always raw, honest, and full of emotion. At the heart of his music is a deep love for the blues, powered by the drive of rock ’n’ roll and the soul of jazz and country. He...

PreSonus Studio One 7.2: A Deep Dive Review The provided text offers an in-depth review of PreSonus Studio One 7.2, highlighting its strengths as a fast, flexible, and professional Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) suitable for various music production roles. It traces the DAW's history, emphasizing its modern, clean-slate design compared to older software and how it evolved into an all-in-one solut...

AI Mastering for Indie Artists: A Practical Guide This document provides a comprehensive guide to audio mastering for indie artists, specifically focusing on the growing role of AI-powered tools. It begins by defining mastering and its importance in achieving a "radio-ready" sound for various listening environments and streaming platforms. The text then explains how modern AI mastering works, noti...

AI Marketing for Independent Musicians: A Simple Guide The provided text, "AI Marketing for Indie Musicians," explores how artificial intelligence can empower independent artists to grow their fanbase and manage their careers more efficiently. It emphasizes that AI acts as a smart assistant, not a replacement for creativity, by handling tasks such as personalizing fan communications, repurposing c...

Breaking Free: Decentralized Music for Indie Artists "Breaking Free: Indie Musicians and Decentralization," explores how Web3 technology and decentralization are empowering independent musicians to escape the limitations of the traditional music industry. It highlights how major record labels and streaming platforms operate like restrictive gatekeepers, offering artists meager earnings and limited...

This guide provides a comprehensive overview for indie artists looking to build a home recording studio on a budget, emphasizing that expensive equipment isn't necessary for professional-sounding music. It outlines essential gear categories, including audio interfaces, microphones, headphones, and digital audio workstations (DAWs), offering specific, affordable product recommendations in each. The...

Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Mary Strand I never dreamed of being a writer as a kid. Nope. I had bigger plans—like joining the Harlem Globetrotters, skating with the Ice Follies, or becoming a U.S. Senator. While other little girls fantasized about being princesses, I wanted to be king. http://www.makingascene.org

Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey's Interview with Johnny Iguana Johnny Iguana, along with his longtime songwriting and producing partner JQ, is the composer behind the original score for the hit FX/Hulu series The Bear. Though Chicago has been his home for decades, Johnny still carries his East Coast roots proudly. http://www.makingascene.org